Small-business owners and SBDC leaders tell Assembly rising costs and tariffs squeeze margins; call for technical assistance and incentives

Local small-business owners, trade-association experts and workforce-board leaders told the California State Assembly in Paramount that rising rents, tariffs, insurance and supply costs are squeezing margins for microbusinesses and independent retailers, and they urged the state to expand technical assistance, targeted financing and incentives.

Pat Nye, leader of the Los Angeles Regional Small Business Development Center Network, said the region's one million small businesses face "unprecedented challenges" and that technical-assistance programs are a "lifeline" for entrepreneurs seeking capital, leases and business-model changes. Nye asked the Assembly to increase funding for small-business technical assistance—including grants that support the TAP program run by the state's Office of the Small Business Advocate—because demand…